Numerical results for two nearby swimming micromachines, obtained by the boundary element method (BEM), are reported in this paper. Two neighbouring con®gurations, side by side and in tandem, are considered and the translational and rotational velocities together with the force exerted on the micromachines are given. It is demonstrated that, for both con®gurations, the approximate re¯ection method gives comparable results to the full solutions. In the side by side con®guration, hydrodynamic interaction is signi®cant when the separation distance is less than about 1.5 of the total length of the machine. A propulsion advantage in the tandem con®gu-ration is found, where the leading machine acquires a higher velocity and the results obtained by the re¯ection method agree well with the full BEM solution.
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